1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to trimming apparatuses, and particularly, to an apparatus for trimming injection molded lenses.
2. Description of Related Art
Camera modules are currently included as a feature in various portable electrical devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and laptop computers to increase functionality. A lens module is a key component of the camera module. Plastic optical lenses are widely used in many lens modules as they can be easily manufactured using injection molding. Plastic optical lenses play a key role in reducing volume of lens modules and decreasing the number of optical lenses used.
During manufacture of plastic optical lenses, a number of lenses are formed by injection molding. The process requires a multi-branch passage supplying molten plastic to the mold cavities. After molding, the plastic in the multi-branch passage solidifies to form a branch and sprue connected to the lens, thereby forming a lens preform. Typically, each lens is manually trimmed from the branch at a sprue position using tools such as trimming pliers and scissors, providing a number of finished plastic optical lenses.
However, during trimming, fissures and burrs can be generated due to inaccuracy of process. Furthermore, cutouts may occur in the lenses due to mispositioned trimming. As sizes of the plastic optical lenses are reduced, such errors increasingly affect the quality of the plastic optical lens products, and, in turn, the final optical product.
What is needed, therefore, is a trimming apparatus addressing the described limitations.